Any Vivaro/Trafic/Primastar Owners?

[Mark A]

Hi chaps,

We have two keys for our 2013 Vivaro. The tip of one key snapped off inside the ignition switch, and though the van could still be driven using the remainder of the broken key the other whole key could not be fully inserted.

To find out whether the problem was covered under warranty we had to pay £60 to the dealer. They said it was outside of the warranty, and the only solution was to replace the entire barrel for £307.

We found an independent mobile locksmith to fish out the broken piece of key, cut a new one and reprogramme it to work with the central locking for £80. I don't know if that was a good price or not, but it was a lot less than what Vauxhall wanted.

The broken tip of the key has a hole right through the middle, which the locksmith believed was a weak point which lead to the key snapping.

There's obviously a design issue with the key

Has anyone had the same problem, or even just heard of it happening?

If so, did you approach the van's manufacturer?



Any advice would be much appreciated!

Mark


P.S. Here's a pic from Google of the key.

 

[acewoodturner]

I have an 04 plate Vivaro and it has the same key as yours. Its the exact same so I believe it to be the original. Its obviously worn but the tip looks ok.

Mike

 

[Eric The Viking]

Just bought a Renault Clio for daughter #2 to learn in.

Both keys, similar to that but with one button, have their tips intact, but the plastic bodies were held together with electrical tape. Investigation shows that an Orang Utan changed the batteries and couldn't fathom the (dovetailed!) slide-apart nature of the shell.

I thought I'd mend one at a time (both were "working" in a just-about sense). Opened it up to find the switch was only held on the board by pressure from the outer rubber "button":

The switch and its solder pads are marked in blue and, to keep a woody reference, the 'dovetails' (it's supposed to slide together) are in red. The numpty tried to force it together just by squeezing. when that failed he (she?) used tape to hold the parts in rough alignment. Infuriating. I don't yet know if the plastic is too damaged to go back as it should.

Meanwhile, the flamin' switch:

I've placed the switch on edge so you can see it, next to the pads it's supposed to be soldered to. Initially I thought the metal lugs had been bent out of shape, but searching eBay indicates they're supposed to be like that. The solder on both pads has fractured. It's lead-free. This is annoying on several counts:

1. If Renault had used a switch with pins that mount it through the board, it would probably still be working sometime in 2115.

2. It's well known that lead free solder is brittle and fractures like this. The EU has forced it to be used in domestic electronics, BUT because this introduces real dangers in motor vehicles there are exemptions for transport applications (cars, lorries, trains, aerospace, etc.). Renault arguably didn't have to use lead-free, and they shouldn't have.

So I now have to get a switch from Hong Kong via eBay, and probably an hour's worth of microsurgery to sort this out. And then put the stupid thing back together again. And then do it all over again for the second key.

It won't be lead free solder when I'm done, mind.

Oh and the stupid thing's got that hole in the end of the key blade, too.

Hrumph.

E.

 

[Mar_mite]

I have a 2010 traffic. My key is the same except there is no hole at the tip. Strange.